Vatha Urusander

Vatha Urusander
Biographical information
Race	Tiste
Gender	Male
Family	Osserc (son)
Social information
Affiliation	Urusander's Legion
Occupation(s)	Soldier
Rank	Commander

Vatha Urusander [OO-ruh-san-der] was the Tiste founder and commander of the eponymous Urusander's Legion. He and the Legion resided in Neret Sorr.

In Forge of Darkness

Many millenia before the events of the Malazan Book of the Fallen, Vatha Urusander was the father of Osserc and the commander of Urusander's Legion. During the wars with the Forulkan and Jheleck, Urusander and his Legion were instrumental in saving Kurald Galain from destruction, but afterwards he accepted the Legion's return to a peacetime standing. Urusander retreated to his books and study. Thinking to keep his son out of a life of soldiery, he informed Osserc that he would not inherit command of Urusander's Legion. Osserc felt betrayed and abandoned his father.

Urusander's supporters and former soldiers, especially Hunn Raal, did not agree with his diminished standing and sought to force a political marriage between him and Mother Dark, while plotting to eliminate the ruling nobility through civil war. They began a campaign of violence and instability. Urusander was unaware of the actions Raal took in his name until it was too late and Kurald Galain teetered on the edge of civil war.

In Fall of Light

Mother Dark and Father Light by Efirende

Vatha Urusander and Renarr by Dejan Delic

(Information needed)

In House of Chains

Seneschal Jorrude of the Tiste Liosan claimed the Tiste Andii were tragically imperfect in comparison to the Liosan as they had not received the benefit of Father Light's purifying blood. The Tiste Edur were tolerated because they carried something of Father Light within them. The Tiste Liosan were dedicated to Father Light's son, Osric.

In Reaper's Gale

(Information needed)

In Toll the Hounds

The Saelen Gara of the lost Kharkanan forestlands had believed the moon was a gift of seduction from Father Light to Mother Dark. It stood in the night sky as a reminder of his love for her. They also believed the moon was the backside of Father Light's baleful eye which served as a lens into other worlds. On those worlds, the moon would appear as a sun.

In Dust of Dreams

(Information needed)

In The Crippled God

(Information needed)

Author comments

Talking of Urusander's final scene in Fall of Light, Steven Erikson says, "the question, I think, is left open to the extent to which Urusander recognises what this moment entails and the extent to which Urusander agrees with it. Because he does turn and face the window, I seem to recall, and that's not entirely ignorant of the fact that he is in the presence of a woman--a young woman--he does not understand. But a woman who might well have very, very good reasons for doing what she does. So that kind of ambivalence is supposed to be there. And so there aren't any direct answers on this stuff. You're left to wonder whether Urusander actually has orchestrated this as his way out.

Notes and references

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